Published: Thursday, April 11, 2013 at 8:57 p.m.

Last Modified: Thursday, April 11, 2013 at 8:57 p.m.

NEWBERRY — At a recent Newberry High School baseball game, burgers sizzled on the grill as people ordered cheese fries and boiled peanuts at the counter of the team's new cream-and-blue-colored concession stand.

But the spectators squirting ketchup and mustard onto their patties and munching on Skittles during the game might not have realized the months of work parents put into that building.

The team's last concession stand burned down on a June morning in 2011.

Mary Coleman walked over and watched it burn, but her husband, Jason, just watched the fire from his front door. He couldn't bring himself to take a closer look.

Jason Coleman had doubled the size of the wooden shed, which was so small it could barely fit two people at once, for free a while back with fellow baseball dads John Kirby and David Pabst. People used to bump butts whenever they passed each other, but his expansion gave them some much-needed room.

His sons Nathan and Spencer were both on the baseball team back then, so he didn't mind doing the work for free. But flames demolished the concession stand and everything inside it. Mary Coleman thought about all of the booster club's fundraising goodies — T-shirts, flip-flops, key chains — burning inside.

"I sat right here on the track and cried," she said.

Parents said the fire was the work of an unknown arson. The Sun requested information on the investigation from the State Fire Marshal's Office but hadn't received it as of late Thursday.

Although losing the concession stand was rough, those three fathers decided to build a bigger, better, more fire-proof one. After a year of work, it is ready for its grand opening at the team's annual Alumni Game on Saturday, which kicks off at 6 p.m. with a home-run derby.

"When it was finally done, you know how you take that big exhale?" Pabst said. "Now you can breathe."

Jason Coleman, who works in plumbing, spearheaded the effort along with Kirby, who does construction, and Pabst, a roofing contractor. They spent pretty much every weekend for a year out at that baseball field working on the new building.

"It's for the love of the game and these boys. That's the only reason we're here," Kirby said.

A new press box now sits above the concrete-block concession stand, which is spacious and includes an adjoining fenced-in area where people can grill hotdogs and hamburgers safely. The building is cream-colored with blue accents, and a blue staircase leads up to the press box.

"If there is a tornado anywhere in this area, this is where you want to go," Kirby said.

Mary Coleman agreed, saying the new concession stand — complete with surveillance cameras — would be harder to set on fire than the last one.

The concession stand is spacious, giving people plenty of room to work as they serve snacks to spectators. Blue plastic baskets lie along the counter stuffed with Dubble Bubble gum, Lay's potato chips and bags of Sour Skittles.

Hungry baseball fans have a lengthy menu to choose from, with a roster that includes nachos, cheese sticks, chicken sandwiches and pickles.

"Looking at it, you can tell it's a first-class facility," said Newberry High Principal Shane Andrew. "It was devastating, you know, the morning we came down and it was smouldering."

But, he said, seeing what's come out of that has been "awesome."

"They did it for the kids. They did it for the current students and the future students here at Newberry High School," he said.

To build the new structure, the team was able to use about $23,500 in insurance money for the burned-down concession stand and received donations of building materials and appliances from various area companies, Jason Coleman said. The cost estimate for the new stand was $40,000, but they spent only about half that much and were able to use the rest of the money to buy appliances and other items.

Baseball parents and teammates helped. Thirty-plus people came out just to help lay the cement blocks, he said.

Almost two years after their old concession stand burned down, the team now has what some people consider one of the best in the county. A few coaches from other schools already have asked coach Bryan Roundtree for the building plans.

"It didn't surprise me at all," he said of the parent-driven effort to build a new concession stand. "We've got great parents over at Newberry."

Nineteen-year-old Nathan Coleman, who graduated in May and now studies at the University of North Florida and whose brother Spencer is still on the team, said he was most impressed by the press box. He and his teammates had always talked about having one so somebody could call out their names and play a walk-up song when they went to bat, and now that is finally possible — thanks in large part to his father.

"It makes me proud of him," Nathan said. His father didn't let the destruction of the first concession stand he worked on stop him.

<p>NEWBERRY — At a recent Newberry High School baseball game, burgers sizzled on the grill as people ordered cheese fries and boiled peanuts at the counter of the team's new cream-and-blue-colored concession stand.</p><p>But the spectators squirting ketchup and mustard onto their patties and munching on Skittles during the game might not have realized the months of work parents put into that building.</p><p>The team's last concession stand burned down on a June morning in 2011.</p><p>Mary Coleman walked over and watched it burn, but her husband, Jason, just watched the fire from his front door. He couldn't bring himself to take a closer look.</p><p>Jason Coleman had doubled the size of the wooden shed, which was so small it could barely fit two people at once, for free a while back with fellow baseball dads John Kirby and David Pabst. People used to bump butts whenever they passed each other, but his expansion gave them some much-needed room.</p><p>His sons Nathan and Spencer were both on the baseball team back then, so he didn't mind doing the work for free. But flames demolished the concession stand and everything inside it. Mary Coleman thought about all of the booster club's fundraising goodies — T-shirts, flip-flops, key chains — burning inside.</p><p>"I sat right here on the track and cried," she said.</p><p>Parents said the fire was the work of an unknown arson. The Sun requested information on the investigation from the State Fire Marshal's Office but hadn't received it as of late Thursday.</p><p>Although losing the concession stand was rough, those three fathers decided to build a bigger, better, more fire-proof one. After a year of work, it is ready for its grand opening at the team's annual Alumni Game on Saturday, which kicks off at 6 p.m. with a home-run derby.</p><p>"When it was finally done, you know how you take that big exhale?" Pabst said. "Now you can breathe."</p><p>Jason Coleman, who works in plumbing, spearheaded the effort along with Kirby, who does construction, and Pabst, a roofing contractor. They spent pretty much every weekend for a year out at that baseball field working on the new building.</p><p>"It's for the love of the game and these boys. That's the only reason we're here," Kirby said.</p><p>A new press box now sits above the concrete-block concession stand, which is spacious and includes an adjoining fenced-in area where people can grill hotdogs and hamburgers safely. The building is cream-colored with blue accents, and a blue staircase leads up to the press box.</p><p>"If there is a tornado anywhere in this area, this is where you want to go," Kirby said.</p><p>Mary Coleman agreed, saying the new concession stand — complete with surveillance cameras — would be harder to set on fire than the last one.</p><p>The concession stand is spacious, giving people plenty of room to work as they serve snacks to spectators. Blue plastic baskets lie along the counter stuffed with Dubble Bubble gum, Lay's potato chips and bags of Sour Skittles.</p><p>Hungry baseball fans have a lengthy menu to choose from, with a roster that includes nachos, cheese sticks, chicken sandwiches and pickles.</p><p>"Looking at it, you can tell it's a first-class facility," said Newberry High Principal Shane Andrew. "It was devastating, you know, the morning we came down and it was smouldering."</p><p>But, he said, seeing what's come out of that has been "awesome."</p><p>"They did it for the kids. They did it for the current students and the future students here at Newberry High School," he said.</p><p>To build the new structure, the team was able to use about $23,500 in insurance money for the burned-down concession stand and received donations of building materials and appliances from various area companies, Jason Coleman said. The cost estimate for the new stand was $40,000, but they spent only about half that much and were able to use the rest of the money to buy appliances and other items.</p><p>Baseball parents and teammates helped. Thirty-plus people came out just to help lay the cement blocks, he said.</p><p>Almost two years after their old concession stand burned down, the team now has what some people consider one of the best in the county. A few coaches from other schools already have asked coach Bryan Roundtree for the building plans.</p><p>"It didn't surprise me at all," he said of the parent-driven effort to build a new concession stand. "We've got great parents over at Newberry."</p><p>Nineteen-year-old Nathan Coleman, who graduated in May and now studies at the University of North Florida and whose brother Spencer is still on the team, said he was most impressed by the press box. He and his teammates had always talked about having one so somebody could call out their names and play a walk-up song when they went to bat, and now that is finally possible — thanks in large part to his father.</p><p>"It makes me proud of him," Nathan said. His father didn't let the destruction of the first concession stand he worked on stop him.</p><p>"He didn't say 'No, I'm done. I'm not going to help anymore,' " Nathan said. "He decided 'Let's build it bigger and better and unburnable.' "</p><p><i>Contact Morgan Watkins at 338-3104 or morgan.watkins@gvillesun.com.</i></p>